Police say a Boardman man was gunned down on Youngstown’s South Side during a drug deal.

Youngstown police say Michael Brown, 20, of Youngstown, confessed to fatally shooting Daniel Watkins during a drug deal in which Watkins was supposed to trade cough medicine and cash for a gram of heroin.

Brown is being held in the Mahoning County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond after his initial appearance Friday in Youngstown Municipal Court on a murder charge.

Brown, who recently moved to Youngstown from Texas, told police he thought Watkins had a gun and planned to shoot him, so Brown shot him first.

Watkins was found July 25 slumped over the steering wheel of a car outside a home on Loveland Road with several gunshot wounds to his chest.

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